Redrock Micro are renowned for being a very innovative manufacturer of gear. Well, they proved their status again last year with this very interesting looking device, known as the “Scout” active camera cage. Now it’s finally shipping.
The idea is to include everything that is needed for manual focus control into a small and lightweight handheld camera cage. The result looks really promising.
There are two versions available, the Scout HS and the Scout HX. The main difference between both models is the lack of the built-in microRemote base station in the HS version. If you already own such a base station and a respective torque motor, this is for you.
The HX version is the far more sophisticated one, as the base station is already included (built-in) as well as a torque motor. All you need is your camera to be ready to go out and shoot.
The built-in fingerwheel communicates directly with the torque motor attached to the rig. So you can use both hands to comfortably hold your camera while maintaining the ability to nail the focus. With the microRemote base station built-in, you can let your AC pull focus with the microRemote Handheld Controller.
The cage can accommodate a wide range of mirrorless and DSLR cameras ranging from 91mm to 125mm tall and the camera can slide left to right in order to keep perfect balance. With the optional rail clamp, it’s easy to swap the whole rig from handheld to studio or shoulder mount. A neat feature for that is the external fingerwheel port which allows you to switch from the built-in fingerwheel to a remote one really quickly. When using a DJI Ronin gimbal, you can pop the Scout right on, no adapters needed.
The unit itself is powered with a standard Canon LP-E6 battery.
The active camera cage gives you one additional cold-show mount for accessories while the other one is used to accommodate the 4″ Rhino Mount for the torque motor.
The built-in base station is capable of calibrating both cine lenses with hard stops and photo lenses without these hard stops. Watch this video for an idea of how easy it is to set everything up. Please make sure to switch off the audio, it’s pretty nerve-wracking!
Pricing and comparison
Pricing is $595 for the HS version and $2,199 for the HX version for the intro period. After that, the regular pricing will be $200 more for the HS and $300 more for the HX version.
It’s nice to see how Redrock Micro listens to their customers and have a good sense of what might be useful in the field. The fact that they have used this feedback to improve their active camera cage range is much appreciated.
For additional information, please check this quick start guide by Redrock Micro.

As a passionate timelapse shooter, I always strive to improve my personal skill as well as perfecting the workflow of my projects. This neat intervalometer hack, provided by Gunther Wegner over at lrtimelapse.com, instantly boosted the reliability of my setup.
Still Photography vs Timelapse Shooting
When shooting timelapse, I always use an external intervalometer to control the shutter.
Unfortunately, that intervalometer will always trigger the autofocus function of the camera before the shutter is released—even if the lens is set to manual focus or with a full manual lens attached. Since timelapse is normally shot with a fixed focus, this behavior just eats up precious time between shots. The autofocus signal may be useful for still photography, but it’s completely useless for timelapse shooting—it actually causes more trouble.
The Problems
My current setup consists of a Canon 5D mk2 with a TP-Link router on top. The router is connected to an iPad via wi-fi, on which qDslrDashboard carries out its duty. It’s a great tool to accomplish so-called “holy grail” shots. Anyway, the shutter always gets triggered via the intervalometer.
Now, as the autofocus signal totally blocks the camera, the behavior of the intervalometer makes the situation even worse. More than once, the connection between tablet and router was interrupted and the whole shot went south.
Another bugging issue is revealed when choosing very short intervals, such as 2 seconds. There is no chance to catch a glimpse of the picture just taken, as the autofocus signal of the next shot immediately turns the screen black.
On top of that the camera buffer might fill up when choosing short intervals because, again, the autofocus signal blocks the camera and it is unable to write the picture from the cache to the card quickly enough. As a result, the camera will stop taking pictures.
The Solution: A Simple Intervalometer Hack
As simple as it sounds, the solution is to eliminate the autofocus signal. You don’t need it anyway. In order to do that, you’ll need the following:
side cutter
multimeter
soldering iron
shrink tubing
confidence
Only do this if you have at least some experience with soldering and you know what you’re doing! This could damage your camera and/or intervalometer if something goes wrong.
As I am using a Canon 5D mk2, my intervalometer has a Canon N3 connector. See the images below for information on how the pins are assigned and how the wires are soldered. Note: The colors of the wires might be different in your intervalometer, so use a multimeter to check the correct wiring!
For performing this intervalometer hack on Nikon cameras, head over to Gunthers Blog for all the details. He has a fantastic step-by-step guide available for both Canon and Nikon DSLRs.
I tried this intervalometer hack for myself and it works like a charm! No more black screen. No filled up buffer. No connection breakdowns whatsoever. No problem!

It’s been three years since the Canon 5D Mark III was released, and recently it’s seen some price cuts. So naturally, rumors about a possible 5D Mark IV are ramping up, with many speculating that it could be a 4K camera.
The rumors were first reported at CanonWatch. Here’s a quick look at these rumored specs:
24MP sensor
Dual Pixel CMOS AF III
New and more advanced AF system (compared to EOS 5D3)
4k video
Anti-flickr technology (seen first on the 7D Mark II)
Improved video features
Crop mode (featured on the upcoming EOS 5Ds)
ISO 100-51200 (H1: 102400, H2: 204800)
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 7 years since the 5D Mark II changed indie film as we know it. Canon made some significant advancements with the Mark III, so it’s only natural to expect them to raise the bar again.
Each camera that comes out these days has it’s pros and cons. We’re probably never going to have the perfect camera with the perfect specs at the perfect price point. But it’s amazing to see how much the manufacturers have improved these cameras since the DSLR revolution began.
And if these early rumors about the Canon 5D Mark IV turn out to be accurate then we could end up with Canon’s long awaited answer to the hot selling Sony A7S, an affordable full frame camera that shoots 4K.
With NAB just a few weeks away, might we expect some sort of announcement? It’s all rumors for now, but we’ll keep you updated with the latest news.

It is an interesting time for filmmakers since Magic Lantern enabled the RAW functionality for Canon DSLR’s. Due to its fast card interface the Canon EOS 5D mark III is the most popular RAW shooting DSLR reaching resolutions of 1080p and beyond (5D3 RAW guide).
But other Canon DSLR’s can shoot RAW too! Even the non-video capable Canon EOS 50D released in 2008 is now a RAW monster. Incredible.
In May we learned that the outdated photo camera Canon EOS 50D was hacked as well (they’re even working on the 40D now) and turned into a movie making machine. The video below shows a video recorded in 1280×960. The creator used an anamorphic lens that squeezes the image which could later be desqueezed into a stunning 2560×960 pixel video. For a camera that actually doesn’t shoot video at all that’s quite a braintwisting number. For a real beating though I suggest you download the source video.

Here’s a very cool review between two very important lenses for full frame cameras (Canon 5D DSLR, Nikon D800, (Red Dragon)). The Canon 16-35mm II and the Tokina 16-28mm both feature an aperture of f/2.8 but in terms of pricing the difference is huge: $1,699 for the Canon vs.

The testing phase for Magic Lantern 2.3 is over. Magic Lantern 2.3 release version is now here and the creators say it’s no longer a “hack”.
We can safely say it’s no longer a hack, but it’s strongly heading towards a solid piece of engineering that you can trust.
We have worked a lot on bug-fixing and usability improvements and we sincerely hope you will find it a great companion for all your shooting sessions – from hobbyist to professional.

Some promising news comes from the Magic Lantern website today.
Feature highlights of the upcoming version:
– First full support for 5D mark II
– Supports latest Canon firmware for 5D mark II, 60D, 600D and 50D
– Advanced ISO control (ISO 80, improved highlight rolloff, ISO 51200…)
– Advanced FPS control (24.000 FPS and 0.2 FPS possible)
– High speed operating through shortcuts (read more)
– New menu design
– Much improved stability (read more)
This is what they wrote:
As promised last week, we are very close to the 2.3 release. We’d like to run a release candidate testing first (RC1), so we’ll start this today.
As a special gesture to the donors and contributors to the ML project, we would like to thank them by giving them access to the release candidate in the forum section accessible to contributors and supporters. Currently we match donors and forum members by hand, so if we miss any of you, please contact me or Bart via PM.
For providing testing feedback, you will have to complete a small quiz. Your feedback will help us fix any remaining problems and announce a release date for the stable v2.3, which will be available to those who donate at least 10 euro to keep us running. After three weeks, this version will become free for everybody.
ML 2.3 RC1 works on Canon 5D Mark II 2.1.2, 550D 1.0.9, 60D 1.1.1, 600D 1.0.2, 50D 1.0.9 and 500D 1.1.1.
via MagicLantern.fm

Remember when we first heard about the Mosaic Engineering anti-aliasing / anti-moiré filter for 5D mark II in August of 2011? What a great invention that would solve our biggest problem with HDSLR.
Now that the 5D mark III is out, healed from moiré problems, people have a good reason to upgrade, but then there’s the issue with the price: The 5D mark III is $3500, hefty for many HDSLR shooters.
How good that the guys over at Mosaic Engineering have now officially started selling their filter for the 7D: The VAF-7D.
This upgrade will set you back by $325, but put you into the aliasing and moiré free realm of the mark III.
Versions for the Nikon D800, T2i/T3i and 60D are in production.
LINK: Mosaic Engineering Store